Media Create Sales: Week 33, 2014 (Aug 11 - Aug 17)

[Sammy Samusu]

TLOU and Bullet Girls, nice! Looks like a busy post Obon.

 

[ATXAlchemy]

Honestly, I think Freedom Wars is doomed to sell like shit if another title is released. It has sold well, but the reaction to the game online (whether on Amazon, gaming blogs, Twitter, etc.) was so overwhelmingly negative that I think a lot of people who purchased Freedom Wars will never buy a sequel.

It can work, but ohhhh boy, they need to work a lot.

So why it keeps selling?

They didn't know better and fell for the marketing. Or social bullshit.

It's listed as low as 2300 yen used.

It's not a bad game, but it isn't a good game either. It has huge balance problems.

 

[hiska-kun]

TLOU and Bullet Girls, nice! Looks like a busy post Obon.

I don't expect any big seller this week. Probably all sub 50k.

 

[Anth0ny]

So PS4 is 6 months old today in Japan.

Does anyone have a list of the top selling software on PS2 and PS3 six months into their lives? I'd like to see what PS4 is missing in comparison to those consoles.

 

[BlackJace]

So PS4 is 6 months old today in Japan.

Does anyone have a list of the top selling software on PS2 and PS3 six months into their lives? I'd like to see what PS4 is missing in comparison to those consoles.

Man, do you even have to ask? The difference'll be staggering.

 

[Psycho_Mantis]

So PS4 is 6 months old today in Japan.

Does anyone have a list of the top selling software on PS2 and PS3 six months into their lives? I'd like to see what PS4 is missing in comparison to those consoles.

PS4
Knack .....399,376
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes ........150,970
Yakuza: Ishin! ......127,518
FIFA 14 ...100,591
Battlefield 4 ....98,280
Watch Dogs ......90,273

PS3
(most if not all of these are as of 03/19,close enough to six months)

Dynasty Warriors Gundam .......249k
Ridge Racer 7.......134k
Mobile Suit Gundam Target in Sight.......131k
Resistance FoM .......117k
Armoured Core 4.......81k
Virtua Fighter 5.......80k

 

[hiska-kun]

GamesMaya's Report:

First day sales ranking.

1. [PSV] Bullet Girls - Good number of sales
2. [PS4] Diablo III - Some people are buying hardware too
3. [PS3] Diablo III - It's popular because is cheaper
4. [PS4] The Last of Us - Slow start

 

[Road]

So PS4 is 6 months old today in Japan.

Does anyone have a list of the top selling software on PS2 and PS3 six months into their lives? I'd like to see what PS4 is missing in comparison to those consoles.

Famitsu. Downloads included for PS4 only.

[PS4] Knack (SCE) {2014-02-22} - 322,083 / 399,376
[PS4] Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (Konami) {2014-03-20} - 100,278 / 150,970
[PS4] Yakuza: Ishin! (SEGA) {2014-02-22} - 73,086 / 127,518
[PS4] FIFA 14 (Electronic Arts) {2014-02-22} - 9,780 / 100,591
[PS4] Battlefield 4 (Electronic Arts) {2014-02-22} - 26,878 / 98,280
[PS4] Watch Dogs (Ubisoft) {2014-06-26} - 65,630 / 90,273
[PS4] Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn (Square Enix) {2014-04-14} - 34,279 / 62,545
[PS4] inFamous: Second Son (SCE) {2014-05-22} - 39,757 / 62,487
[PS4] Killzone: Shadow Fall (SCE) {2014-02-22} - 25,978 / 48,568
[PS4] Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition (Square Enix) {2014-02-22} - 10,576 / 41,849


[PS3] Dynasty Warriors: Gundam {2007-03-01} (Bandai Namco) - 171,032 / 248,761
[PS3] Ridge Racer 7 {2006-11-11} (Bandai Namco) - 30,318 / 133,991
[PS3] Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire {2006-11-11} (Bandai Namco) - 30,051 / 131,111
[PS3] Resistance: Fall of Man {2006-11-11} (SCE) - 15,741 / 116,657
[PS3] Armored Core 4 {2006-12-21} (From Software) - 36,446 / 80,813
[PS3] Virtua Fighter 5 {2007-02-08} (SEGA) - 52,432 / 80,257
[PS3] Genji: Days of the Blade {2006-11-11} (SCE) - 9,543 / 53,780
[PS3] MotorStorm {2006-12-14} (SCE) - 12,806 / 53,235
[PS3] Enchanted Arms {2007-01-25} (From Software) - 14,417 / 35,790
[PS3] Need for Speed: Carbon {2006-12-21} (Electronic Arts) - 12,542 / 34,921


[PS2] Ridge Racer V {2000-03-04} (Namco) - 233,391 / 579,598
[PS2] Tekken Tag Tournament {2000-03-30} (Namco) - 214,753 / 429,734
[PS2] Kessen {2000-03-04} (Koei) - 101,844 / 322,342
[PS2] Dead or Alive 2 {2000-03-30} (Tecmo) - 158,506 / 304,973
[PS2] Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball 7 {2000-07-06} (Konami) - 142,152 / 286,248
[PS2] FIFA Soccer World Championship {2000-05-25} (Square EA) - 101,599 / 234,847
[PS2] Dynasty Warriors 2 {2000-08-03} (Koei) - 117,709 / 213,625
[PS2] Street Fighter EX3 {2000-03-04} (Capcom) - 76,389 / 178,474
[PS2] Armored Core 2 {2000-08-03} (From Software) - 122,190 / 175,935
[PS2] All-Star Pro Wrestling {2000-06-08} (Square) - 88,669 / 154,452

I think we can safely conclude the PS4 is the worst selling PlayStation in Japan ever because it did not launch with Ridge Racer.

Edit: PS1 below, estimated based on sales points, very inconsistent, missing weeks etc. Just look at is as curiosity:

[PS1] Battle Arena Toshinden {1995-01-01} (Takara) - 165,444 / 472,150
[PS1] Ridge Racer {1994-12-03} (Namco) - 164,279 / 463,541
[PS1] Parodius {1994-12-03} (Konami) - 101,802 / 274,593
[PS1] A. IV Evolution {1994-12-03} (Artdink) - 51,914 / 157,467
[PS1] Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball '95 {1994-12-22} (Konami) - - / 90,294
[PS1] Crime Crackers {1994-12-03} (SCE) - 29,627 / 41,059
[PS1] Twinbee Taisen Puzzle Dama {1994-12-09} (Konami) - 33,755 / 33,755
[PS1] Cosmic Race {1995-01-20} (Neorex) - 5,541 / 5,541
[PS1] King's Field {1994-12-16} (From Software) - 5,413 / 5,413
[PS1] Motor Toon Grand Prix {1994-12-16} (SCE) - 4,216 / 4,216

 

[Foshy]

Price difference between Diablo 3 PS4 and PS3 is stupid.

 

[Eolz]

Virtua Fighter 5.......80k

Not related to Playstation, but this is reminding me: did Virtua Fighter ever was popular in terms of sales on console (japan or not)?

 

[Psycho_Mantis]

GamesMaya's Report:

First day sales ranking.

1. [PSV] Bullet Girls - Good number of sales
2. [PS4] Diablo III - Some people are buying hardware too
3. [PS3] Diablo III - It's popular because is cheaper
4. [PS4] The Last of Us - Slow start

Oh Japan

 

[cw_sasuke]

Not related to Playstation, but this is reminding me: did Virtua Fighter ever was popular in terms of sales on console (japan or not)?

IIRC VF4 ( amazing game) sold around 500K in Japan on PS2 - this was the last "big" console release.

 

[Nirolak]

Not related to Playstation, but this is reminding me: did Virtua Fighter ever was popular in terms of sales on console (japan or not)?

SAT : Virtua Fighter 2 ( SEGA ) { 1995-12-01 } -         540,539 / 1,049,968
SDC : Virtua Fighter 3TB ( SEGA ) { 1998-11-27 } -            97,659 / 308,707
PS2 : Virtua Fighter 4 ( SEGA ) { 2002-01-31 } -         356,897 / 541,973
PS3 : Virtua Fighter 5 ( SEGA ) { 2007-02-08 } -            52,432 / 97,321

The staff works on projects like the Hatsune Miku series (starting with 3DS/Vita when they began making them internally) these days for perhaps obvious reasons.

 

[Pennywise83]

Not related to Playstation, but this is reminding me: did Virtua Fighter ever was popular in terms of sales on console (japan or not)?

In Japan, VF2 on Saturn sold over 1 million units; VF4 on PS2 sold over 500k units (beating all PS2 Tekken, which was quite outstanding at the time, since Tekken was coming from Tekken 3). So it was a relevant IP.

 

[Psycho_Mantis]

What happened to Tekken and VF to fall so much.

 

[Nirolak]

What happened to Tekken and VF to fall so much.

Well, it happened to every fighting game in Japan.

Interest in the genre just dropped notably over time as people migrated to other experiences they preferred that didn't necessarily exist at the time fighting games were super popular.

Similarly, Flight Sims used to be the #1 genre in the West and now there's basically zero interest even if you make your game f2p. (Note: By flight sims I mean games that try to simulate flying an airplane, not spaceship combat games.)

Other good examples of this might be NES-style arcade sports games or sidescrolling beat-em-ups which declined in favor of sports simulation titles and action-adventure games.

Edit:

Arena shooters to modern-style multiplayer shooters and RTS games to MOBAs are other good examples of audience shift.

It's not that the old genre stopped existing or that its merits went away, but if you compare the player count on CoD/Battlefield to the player count on Quake/UT or even the modern player count on Quake/UT/other similar games to Quake/UT back in their heyday, there's a massive decline.

 

[Eolz]

IIRC VF4 ( amazing game) sold around 500K in Japan on PS2 - this was the last "big" console release.

SAT : Virtua Fighter 2 ( SEGA ) { 1995-12-01 } -         540,539 / 1,049,968
SDC : Virtua Fighter 3TB ( SEGA ) { 1998-11-27 } -            97,659 / 308,707
PS2 : Virtua Fighter 4 ( SEGA ) { 2002-01-31 } -         356,897 / 541,973
PS3 : Virtua Fighter 5 ( SEGA ) { 2007-02-08 } -            52,432 / 97,321

The staff works on projects like the Hatsune Miku series (starting with 3DS/Vita when they began making them internally) these days for perhaps obvious reasons.

In Japan, VF2 on Saturn sold over 1 million units; VF4 on PS2 sold over 500k units (beating all PS2 Tekken, which was quite outstanding at the time, since Tekken was coming from Tekken 3). So it was a relevant IP.

Wow always thought they were lower for some reason, apart from the one on Saturn.
It's really making me sad. Is that one of the reasons Sega accepted the crossover with Dead or Alive? More exposure?

 

[Nirolak]

Wow always thought they were lower for some reason, apart from the one on Saturn.
It's really making me sad. Is that one of the reasons Sega accepted the crossover with Dead or Alive? More exposure?

To be completely honest I'm not sure if Sega is actually making Virtua Fighter games anymore, so they might have been willing to let them use them since the staff wanted to see them in a fighting game again.

 

[SmokyDave]

Oh Japan

Thing is, the actual game looks pretty cool. Reminds me of SK: V. Look past the torn schoolgirl panties and there's a good game underneath.

'Look past the torn schoolgirl panties' isn't something I expected to type today.

 

[L~A]

About the HW "huge marketing", I think most people are thinking of the numerous Famitsu articles and stuff. And the stream yeah. Unless you actually live in Japan, it's hard to tell how much of an impact this had.

***

About the YW2 guide, the YW1 guide was released after the game went out, and it still sold over 1m copies. The fact that it didn't come out Day 1 is probably not a problem... I take it they're bundling a medal or something with it, right?

***

I don't expect any big seller this week. Probably all sub 50k.

With the exception of YW2, yeah, probably.

 

[LiveFromKyoto]

[Dynasty Warriors Gundam .......249k
Ridge Racer 7.......134k
Mobile Suit Gundam Target in Sight.......131k
Resistance FoM .......117k
Armoured Core 4.......81k
Virtua Fighter 5.......80k

Kind of surprised to see how relatively strong Resistance was. I do remember it being one of the more popular games in kiosks in Sofmap etc., and I was one of those sales, but still.

I think we can safely conclude the PS4 is the worst selling PlayStation in Japan ever because it did not launch with Ridge Racer.

I'm sure you're kidding, but something about the launch felt illegitimate to me for exactly that reason. Namco had always been there with a long lasting game that was a graphics showcase, I really wanted to see what they would do this time around. But after the Vita & F2P games, the series seems to be dead, or at least dormant.

Similarly, Flight Sims used to be the #1 genre in the West and now there's basically zero interest even if you make your game f2p. (Note: By flight sims I mean games that try to simulate flying an airplane, not spaceship combat games.)

I'm guessing you're including titles like Wing Commander and Tie Fighter in that genre, rather than just Chuck Yaeger/Microsoft Flight Sim, etc?
EDIT: I see you're not, duh. When was this?

 

[Sammy Samusu]

GamesMaya's Report:

First day sales ranking.

1. [PSV] Bullet Girls - Good number of sales
2. [PS4] Diablo III - Some people are buying hardware too
3. [PS3] Diablo III - It's popular because is cheaper
4. [PS4] The Last of Us - Slow start

Japan chose Bullet Girls over The Last Of Us.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBNT8TvpSac

 

[Koren]

Not related to Playstation, but this is reminding me: did Virtua Fighter ever was popular in terms of sales on console (japan or not)?

I may be wrong, but I think that Virtua Fighter 2 is the ONLY sega million-seller in Japan on home console.

(the only one is Love'n Berry on DS, if I'm not mistaken)

 

[Nirolak]

Kind of surprised to see how relatively strong Resistance was. I do remember it being one of the more popular games in kiosks in Sofmap etc., and I was one of those sales, but still.



I'm sure you're kidding, but something about the launch felt illegitimate to me for exactly that reason. Namco had always been there with a long lasting game that was a graphics showcase, I really wanted to see what they would do this time around. But after the Vita & F2P games, the series seems to be dead, or at least dormant.



I'm guessing you're including titles like Wing Commander and Tie Fighter in that genre, rather than just Chuck Yaeger/Microsoft Flight Sim, etc?
EDIT: I see you're not, duh. When was this?

I'm guessing the early 90's.

NYT: The highly authentic military shooter, a la Medal of Honor, seems dead or at least inactive.

EA's 3rd in command Frank Gibeau: Genres come and go. At one point in time, flight simulators were the No. 1 selling game. Now you can’t give them away. Remember when Air Guitar was big? Now it’s in a landfill in Arizona.

Source: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/21/one-on-one-gaming-the-future-with-frank-gibeau/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=5

He actually started at EA like ~25 years ago as a tester for them and has their historic sales data so I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt.

The reason I excluded space games is they seem to be making a comeback. Looking at the quote it's plausible the two genres were combined.

 

[Darius]

Japan chose Bullet Girls over The Last Of Us.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBNT8TvpSac

At the very least it is a new game and not a port.

 

[AcademicSaucer]

Japan chose Bullet Girls over The Last Of Us.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBNT8TvpSac

well , vita install base is what ? 4 times Ps4 in japan ?

 

[Nirolak]

In today's edition of "Let's shuffle money around.", Gung-Ho sold its stake in Supercell (Clash of Clans, Hay Day) to its parent company SoftBank, which also already owned a stake in Supercell, but now has a 51% ownership stake directly.

This gave Gung-Ho $344 million in revenue along with a $73 million profit versus their original investment.

They're using this money to do things like set up a new subsidiary in Singapore that will manage a $289 Million fund to invest in Asian (read not-Japanese) developers and emerging markets in the region.

http://www.serkantoto.com/2014/08/21/gungho-sells-stake-in-supercell-to-parent-company-softbank-for-us344-million/

http://www.serkantoto.com/2014/08/21/gungho-3765-singapore/

Edit:

Puzzle & Dragons has also hit 30 million downloads in Japan: http://www.serkantoto.com/2014/08/20/puzzle-dragons-30-million-gungho/

They also shared statistics outside of Japan such as:

1 million downloads in Hong Kong and Taiwan (combined)
2 million downloads in South Korea
4 million downloads in the US and Canada (combined)

 

[Chris1964]

I think people were referring to all the Youtube trailers and Niconico streams. Obviously, that's not huge marketing, but there's no need to be rude.

We have different definition of what rude means.

 

[cw_sasuke]

Edit:

Puzzle & Dragons has also hit 30 million downloads in Japan: http://www.serkantoto.com/2014/08/20/puzzle-dragons-30-million-gungho/

They also shared statistics outside of Japan such as:

1 million downloads in Hong Kong and Taiwan (combined)
2 million downloads in South Korea
4 million downloads in the US and Canada (combined)

I was more impressed with the download numbers before i started playing the game and learned about the rerolling society which results in a bunch of downloads by unique users.

 

[Nirolak]

gumi is opening four new North American studios (100 employees total) in order to help localize their games along with those of their partners (Sega, GREE, and LINE).

It looks like we will be seeing a lot of major Japanese iOS/Android games going abroad soon. Apparently gumi is working on 30 titles on that front (if I undestood the article correctly, though it's believable with 100 staff on top of what they already have with apparently more planned).

This is notable as Brave Frontier is one of the best performing (or possibly even the best performing) Japanese apps in the West, so they might be able to have quite a bit of success.

I realize this isn't exactly /Japanese/ sales information, but it does tell us more about potential income for Japanese companies.

http://techcrunch.com/2014/08/21/game-developer-gumi-a-sega-and-line-partner-enters-north-america-with-four-new-studios/?ncid=twittersocialshare

 

[Chris1964]

Honestly, I think Freedom Wars is doomed to sell like shit if another title is released. It has sold well, but the reaction to the game online (whether on Amazon, gaming blogs, Twitter, etc.) was so overwhelmingly negative that I think a lot of people who purchased Freedom Wars will never buy a sequel.

If word of mouth is so bad history has shown many times that sequel will suffer even if it's better.

 

[1st Course]

They're using this money to do things like set up a new subsidiary in Singapore that will manage a $289 Million fund to invest in Asian (read not-Japanese) developers and emerging markets in the region.

Good move. APAC market is huge and has many opportunities for growth.

 

[crinale]

So why it keeps selling?

The latest patch fixed most of "issues" so that's the reason ppl keep buying it I guess.
The thing didn't get patched was the short storyline, but since online was implemented no one cares it anymore lol.

 

[Nirolak]

Good move. APAC market is huge and has many opportunities for growth.

Yes, that's one thing most Japanese publishers seem to have fully realized and started investing against.

 

[hiska-kun]

First day sellthrough:

[PS4] The Last of Us Remastered <ADV> (Sony Computer Entertainment) (¥6.372) - 50%

Nice start but the scale is not big. Not moving Hardware.

[PS4] Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition <RPG> (Square Enix) (¥8.424) - 40%
[PS3] Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition <RPG> (Square Enix) (¥5.184) - 40%

The last entry had stock problems, so this time the shipment was bigger.
The PS3 version is slightly higher, maybe because the big and mysterious price's difference.

[PSV] Bullet Girls <ACT> (D3 Publisher) (¥6.799) - 80%

The shipment was small and not enough, but it's not a title that sells 50-100k.

 

[zeromcd73]

http://news.livedoor.com/article/detail/9171203/

Hino wants Youkai Watch to surpass Pokemon, Doraemon, and Chibi Maruko-chan. He certainly seems to have big things and big hopes in mind for this series

 

[Nightengale]

Surpass Doraemon and Chibi Maruko?

Never.

 

[The_lascar]

He certainly seems to have big things and big hopes in mind for this series

One new game at each quarter.

 

[phoenix3934]

http://news.livedoor.com/article/detail/9171203/

Hino wants Youkai Watch to surpass Pokemon, Doraemon, and Chibi Maruko-chan. He certainly seems to have big things and big hopes in mind for this series

The guy needs some reality check, man. There's no way Youkai Watch can surpass Pokemon.

 

[ZoddGutts]

GamesMaya's Report:

First day sales ranking.

1. [PSV] Bullet Girls - Good number of sales
2. [PS4] Diablo III - Some people are buying hardware too
3. [PS3] Diablo III - It's popular because is cheaper
4. [PS4] The Last of Us - Slow start

Theres' still hope for gaming Japan.

 

[metalslimer]

The guy needs some reality check, man. There's no way Youkai Watch can surpass Pokemon.

I mean I'm sure he doesn't actually think it will surpass Pokemon, but with proper management it could certainly be this generation's Monster Hunter.

 

[Tomohawk]

I mean I'm sure he doesn't actually think it will surpass Pokemon, but with proper management it could certainly be this generation's Monster Hunter.

I think it has potential, especially in the west, where it'll be a much easier sell than monster hunter.

 

[Psycho_Mantis]

Theres' still hope for gaming Japan.

Don't worry, Bullet Girls won't get any where near TLoU's sales:

PS3 TLoU : 235k

All is not lost.

 

[Infernal Monkey]

Japan chose Bullet Girls over The Last Of Us.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBNT8TvpSac

Nerv_logo.jpg

 

[cw_sasuke]

The guy needs some reality check, man. There's no way Youkai Watch can surpass Pokemon.

He wants the IP to be as bis as possible, that doesnt mean he expect it become bigger than Pokemon in general. When it comes to anime rating and merchandise sales it probably hotter than Pokemon, the important question will be how it looks 3-4 years from now.

 

[Kresnik258]

Bullet Girls undershipped? Gasp.

 

[RalchAC]

I think it has potential, especially in the west, where it'll be a much easier sell than monster hunter.

It's an easier sell than MH, but it's be really hard for YW to become the next Pokemon. The series launched as a multimedia project when people and TV channels still had a lot of interest on anime. For better or worse the situation have changed and anime series are not licensed all that often.

It could clic and become a juggernaut, but I think it won't be as easy.

 

[Alrus]

I wouldn't be surprised if YW2 ended up selling more than ORAS in the end. Not entirely comparable though.

 

[metalslimer]

Maybe someone could answer this, but is Yokai Watch the fastest growing 3rd party series ever?

 

[Pennywise83]

Maybe someone could answer this, but is Yokai Watch the fastest growing 3rd party series ever?

I would say so.

The second entry already has a shot to reach the 3m mark. If we think about the biggest 3rd party series ever, has this ever happened before? We know that Monster Hunter exploded well after the second entry (which sold around 500k on PS2); the 2nd portable entry sold 1.7m; Final Fantasy was still relatively small at the time; maybe Dragon Quest? But I guess it did not sell so much; shipment of DQII was around 2.4m.